Hunting bin Laden: Part 1 - First Attack and a Chance at Capture

I'll admit it is a little eerie - but not so much that it's worthy
of a conspiracy theory.

(I suppose I should preface this blog by saying that writing this on September 11th was purely coincidental. I read books and write on them at my own pace, and it just happened to land like this. Nothing more than a coincidence, but hey, so is the picture on the right, but it's always a little interesting nevertheless.)

I was in grade six when the Twin Towers went down. It would have been a normal day I wouldn't have taken note of, but there was a stark difference; Garfield wasn't on the TV when I got out of bed and came downstairs. Instead, my parents were watching the news of the worst terrorist attack on American soil before or since with ten times the loss of life on the second on the list. I didn't know much of what the attacks meant or why they happened, but even as a child I knew whatever it was, it was big. I feel it's the only time when watching the news I've witnessed a major world-changing event that will define how the following decades will proceed. Also, it left me without a compass for my thoughts on lasagna and Mondays for that particular day of school.

Soon after, Osama bin Laden became perhaps the most notorious person in the world after revealing it was he who commanded the attacks under the terrorist group al-Qaeda. He couldn't immediately reveal it was him because that would force the hand of then Afghanistan President Mullah Omar. If he showed himself to be the mastermind behind the attacks and Omar wouldn't hand him over, the repercussions of it would pretty much mean a flat out war between the two countries, and Omar couldn't afford that. Knowing this, Osama laid low for a while and didn't immediately take ownership until he was hidden well enough - and once they started bombing Taliban targets and the cat was out of the bag.

I was really hoping to find a picture of Osama
bin Laden not smiling politely, but you take what
you can get.

Ironically, Osama carried through on this plan to get the Americans out of the middle east, thinking that if they struck the United States at home they would surely have to back out of there. It wasn't the greatest plan; striking at the strongest military in the world and thinking their reaction would be to slink away like a wounded animal was perhaps being a touch optimistic. To be fair, there were many that thought this way - specifically, the Taliban, al-Qaeda's older brother. They told him it would be unwise to start a war with the U.S. and attacking them would have massive, bloody repercussions at the expense of Afghanistan. Since al-Qaeda still had to listen to the Taliban, they offered them a deal; they would assassinate the leaders of the remaining anti-Taliban resistance in Afghanistan to earn the right to go after the States. Of course, Osama's plan backfired terribly. It only took until September 17th for President Bush to sign the plans to overthrow the Taliban and hunt down and if need be kill the leaders of al-Qaeda, with the big prize being Osama himself.

When the United States went hunting for them they came with all the might of a rich, powerful and bloated military budget paired with a thirst for blood the Americans haven't seen in ages. They absolutely devastated al-Qaeda, using drone strikes, the use of torture, and a willingness to bend the rules on what they can and cannot do in foreign countries. Pre-9/11 al-Qaeda was doing quite well for itself, with a very almost mundane bureaucratic air about it: they had disability insurance and vacation time, media outreach, and thirty-two pages of bylaws (The Office: Kabul?). Afterwards, their economy was in shambles, their infrastructure literally exploded and their allies either dead or scattered. With the major population centres no longer being safe they resorted to moving to the remote, tribal areas of Pakistan where they had to deal with very limited amounts of communication due to the lack of infrastructure in the area. For Osama personally things were faring little better. Two months after the attacks, he had lost his longtime military commander, a whole bunch of his family was fleeing into exile, and since al-Qaeda's funds were running out he had little financial support.

The Americans reducing Tora Bora to a fiery hellscape
significantly reduced its ratings on Tripadvisor.

He decided to flee to Tora Bora, a complex of caves in eastern Afghanistan where he had previously used the mountainous terrain to hold off the Soviet Union in 1987 to great success. His battles there had made him somewhat of a military hero, and he was hoping to relive that and once more stand against a more powerful army using the tactical advantage of a difficult terrain in which he and his forces were familiar. Quickly, the Americans discovered he was there and pressed their attack - but not as heavily as one would imagine.

Fearing political retribution of the dangers of bringing a large number of soldiers into remote Afghanistan, already hostile to the U.S. and likely to get in skirmishes with civilians and villagers, they refrained from sending in too many. Instead, they opted to pay off the local Afghani warlords in the area and supported them with American firepower in the form of bombing runs in lieu of personnel. It appeared to be working at the time (at least somewhat) and a number of audacious military plans were denied - one of them being a plan to scale the mountainous region around them and descend on them from above, sandwiching them between the friendly(ish) Afghani warlord fighters and themselves. I believe the planning for that was a number of fifteen-year-old consultants getting together and considering what would be the most "awesome" way to take bin Laden down. The Americans, however, decided to lean on the side of caution and rely on planes and bribes. There were more journalists there than western soldiers.

It didn't pan out.

Much to the dismay of the Americans that paid them, the warlords agreed upon a ceasefire between the two, and Osama ordered his men to retreat. His closest bodyguards scurried away to Pakistan where they were promptly arrested - but Osama wasn't with them. He remained in Afghanistan and found shelter elsewhere. It was only December of the same year as the tragic, fateful events of September 11th, and they were so close to bringing the perpetrator to justice. Considering the cost, effort and time that would be put into finding him over the next several years, it's incredible to think that the Americans lost him by putting too much restraint on their efforts in the first few months.